Portable deck for airplane runways and the like



1944- c. B. cusHwA. JR., ET AL 2,359,548

PORTABLE DECK FOR AIRPLANE RUNWAYS AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 9, 1945 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TORS. Gui/P4 5 5. 605mm, JR.

and fiflmLa 6 Gmsv ICH. fimaoyu or/rey.

Oct. 3, 1944.

c. B. CUSHWA. JR, ET AL PORTABLE DECK FOR AIRPLANE RUNWAYS AND THE LIKE2 Sheets-Sheet? Filed Sept. 9', 1943 I N VEN TORS. CH/IIPLEfi 5.605197144, JR. and 615 ,4 0

Patented Oct. 3, 1944 UNITE STT E PORTABLE DECK'FdR AIRPLANE RUNWAYS 7AND THE LIKE Charles B. Cushwa, Jr., Youngstown, Ohio, and

Gerald G. Greulioh, Mount Lebanon, Pa., assig'nors to Carnegie-IllinoisSteel Corporation,

a corporation of-New Jersey Application September 9, 1943, Serial No.501,660

Claims.

This invention relates to portable decks and more particularly to thosewhich provide paved areas on unstable soil and the like for airplanerunways, storage and handling of materials and freight, etc. In thepatents to Greulich, No. 2,294,549 and No. 2,294,550, dated September 1,1942, there is shown and described portable decks somewhat similar tothat of the present appli cation which is an improvement thereover. Ineach of these patents the planks of the deck are locked together byspring clips which often become lost, thus causing difiiculty in thefield which may be far from the source of supply. In addition the costof spring clips for the tonnage of portable decks now being produced ishigh.

It is among the objects of the present invention to eliminate the needof a spring clip by providing an integral locking lug on the plank.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to thefollowing specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan of a pair of metallic planks, assembledin accordance with the teachings of the invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line II-II of Figure 1; I

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view showing a detail of the lockedinterlock;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing a modificationthereof;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line VV of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but showing the locking lug inlocking position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral 2generally designates a metallic plank of which a group are assembled toform the portable deck of the present invention. Each of the metallicplanks 2 defines a flat surface from which a plurality of continuousparallel longitudinal grooves 5 are formed by deforming the material outof the general plane of the flat surface and into continuous U-shapedtroughs. On either side of the continuous parallel longitudinal grooves5 is a row of circular apertures 6, each of which is formed by punchingthe metal out of the flat surface of the plank 2 to provide a downwardlyextending circumferential coniform flange 'l. The details of thisconstruction are described in the Greulich patent application. SerialNo. 398,658, filed June 18, 1941, and entitled Portable deck. It will beunderstood that this invention is not limited to such construction sincethe construction may be that shown in the above mentioned patents. I

The longitudinal edges 9 of each of the metallic planks 2 are providedwith aligned spaced downwardly projecting lugs 10, each of whichcomprises a shank II and a longitudinally extending elongated prongportion l3. These elongated prong portions l3 are in alignment and allof them extend in the same direction.

Referring more particularly to Figure 1, it will be perceived that theflat surface of each of the metallic plates inwardly of its longitudinaledges 9 and outwardly of the longitudinal grooves 5 is provided with aseries of elongated slots l5 which correspond in number, size and shapeto receive and have extend therethrough the aligned spacedlongitudinally extending elongated prong portions I3 of an adjacentlydisposed plank 2. The fastening means so far described is that disclosedin the above mentioned patents which use a spring clip to lock the lugsII! in the slots IS. The necessity of these spring clips is eliminatedin the present invention by providing locking lugs l'l between some ofthe downwardly projecting lugs Ill. downwardly as shown at I9 and extendfrom the plank the same distance as the downwardly extending lugs l0.

In operation:

A series of metallic planks 2 are laid in the form of a blanket in whichalternate rows are reversed so that the longitudinally extendingelongated prong portions l3 in one row point in a direction which isopposite that of the corresponding elements of the metallic planks ofthe adjacent row. This permits placing of the rows one at a time instraight sequence, the longitudinally extending elongated prong portionsl3 of the row being placed so as to be readily entered from the top intothe elongated slots IS in the leading edges of the metallic planksalready in position. The space between the upper edges of the elongatedprong portion l3 and the lower edges of the metallic planks 2 ismaterially greater than the thickness of the planks, this permitting theremoval of any plank from its assembled relationship by merely raisingits end opposite that toward which the elongated prong portions 7 I3extend and sliding the said plank in the dire-ction of its raised end.

indicated as l9 to the position indicated as 2| The lugs II arebentslightly In order to secure the interlocked metallic planks againstdisplacement, the lug I 'I is bent downwardly from the positicnj at 23to enable the lug I! to be bent easily downward into position.Ordinarily two of the looking lugs I! are bent downwardly into the slotsl5 and the lugs which are not used remain as spares. The lugs are bentslightly downwardly as shown at 19 so that their tops are below thesurface of the plank and the top of the deck surface and will notproject up to engage with the tread f the airplane tires. If the lug istoo long or is not bent down as shown it will cause serious damage toaircraft landing on such planks especially when two planks because ofuneven ground are bent upwardly into a slightly inverted v at theinterlock. It is also easier to nest a plurality of planks together whenthe lugs are in this position.

Figures 4 to 6 inclusive disclose a modified form of locking lug whichis. attached to the female member of the joint. The lug 25 is formed asshown in Figure 4 with the metal slot at 26 and when the slot I ispunched, the lug is bent down to the position shown at 21 in Figure 5.This is the normal position of the lug and permits insertion of thedownwardly extending lug l0 into the slot l5. After the lug I0 isinserted in the slot I5, the lug 25 is bent upwardly to the positionshown at 29 in Figure 6, this preventing retraction of the prong portionl3 from the slot.

While two embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, itwill be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A plurality of metallic planks adapted for rapid attachment anddetachment and forming a substantially horizontal portable deck capableof sustaining superposed loads, at least one of each pair of abuttingplanks having a series of aligned spaced longitudinally extendingopenings inwardly of an edge thereof, the other plank of each pair beingprovided along marginal portions thereof with a series of aligned spaceddownwardly projecting lugs which align with and extend through saidopenings, each of said lugs comprising a shank and an enlarged headportion, said openings 'being substantially larger than the enlargedhead portions of the lugs whereby, upon disposing said lugs in saidopenings and subjecting the planks to relative longitudinal movement,the enlarged head portions of the said lugs are disposed beneath thebottom of the abutting plank to effect an interlock, one of saidabutting planks having at least one integral locking lug which in planview extends transversely of one of said openings and is positionedbelow the top of the last-mentioned plank to obstruct relativelongitudinal disengaging movement of the planks by engaging a part ofthe other plank on such movement.

2. A plurality of metallic planks adapted for rapid attachment anddetachment and forming a substantially horizontal portable deck capableof sustaining superposed loads, at least one of each pair of abuttingplanks having a series of aligned spaced longitudinally extendingopenings inwardly of an edge thereof, the other plank of each pair beingprovided along marginal portions thereof with a series of aligned spaceddownwardly projecting lugs which align with and extend through saidopenings, each of said lugs comprising a shank and an enlarged headportion, said openings 'being substantially larger than the enlargedhead portions of the lugs whereby, upon disposing said lugs in saidopenrelative longitudinal disengaging movement of the planks by engaginga part of the other plank on such movement, said locking lug normallybeing bent downwardly below the top of said planks. p v

3. A plurality'oi' metallic planks adapted for rapid attachment anddetachment and forming a substantially horizontal portable deck capableof sustaining superposed loads, at least one of each pair of abuttingplanks having a series of aligned spaced longitudinally extendingopenings inwardly of an edge thereof, the other plank of each pair beingprovided along marginal portions thereof with a series -of alignedspaced downwardly projecting lugs which align with and extend throughthe said openings, each of said lugs comprising a shank and an enlargedhead portion, said openings being substantially larger than the enlargedhead portions of the lugs whereby, upon disposing said lugs in saidopenings and subjecting the planks torelative longitudinal movement, theenlarged head portions of the said lugs are disposed beneath the bottomof the abutting plank to effect an interlock, the second mentioned ofsaid abutting planks having at least one integral locking lug betweentwo of said downwardly projecting lugs which in plan view extendstransversely of one of said openings and is positioned below the top ofthe last-mentioned plank to obstruct relative longitudinal disengagingmovement of the planks by engaging a wall of said last-mentioned openingon such movement.

4. A plurality of metallic planks adapted for rapid attachment anddetachment and forming a substantially horizontal portable deck capableof sustaining superposed loads, at least one of each pair of abuttingplanks having a series of aligned spaced longitudinally extendingopenings inwardly of an edge thereof, the other plank of each pair beingprovided along marginal portions thereof with a series of aligned spaceddownwardly projecting lugs which align with and extend through the saidopenings, each of said lugs comprising a shank and an enlarged headportion, said openings being substantially larger than the enlarged headportions of the lugs whereby, upon disposing said lugs in said openingsand subjecting the planks to relative longitudinal -movement, theenlarged head portions of the said lugs are disposed beneath the bottomof the abutting planks to effect an interlock, the second mentioned ofsaid abutting planks having at least one integral locking lug betweentwo of said downwardly projecting lugs which is, after assembly, adaptedto be bent and in plan view extends transversely of one of said openingsto obstruct relative longitudinal disengaging movement of the planks byengaging a wall of said last-mentioned opening on such movement, saidlocking lug normally being bent downwardly below the top of said planks.

5. A plurality of metallic planks adapted for rapid attachment anddetachment and forming a substantially horizontal portable deck capableof sustaining superposed loads, at least one of each pair of abuttingplanks having a series of inwardly of an edge thereof, the other plankof each pair being provided along marginal portions thereof with aSeries of aligned spaced downwardly projecting lugs which alignwith.

and extend through said openings, each of said lugs comprising a shankand an enlarged head portion, said openings being substantially largerthan the enlarged-head portions of the lugs whereby, upon disposing saidlugs in said openings and subjecting the planks to relative longitudinalmovement, the enlarged head portions of the said lugs are disposedbeneath the bottom 2,359,548 a 3 aligned spaced longitudinally extendingopenings 0!. the abutting plank to effect an interlock, the firstmentioned of the said abutting planks'having at least one integrallocking-lug bent downwardly adjacent one of said openings which is,after assembly, adapted to be bent up and in plan view extendstransversely of the last-mentioned opening to obstruct relativelongitudinal disengaging movement of they planks by engaging adownwardly projecting lug of the other J0 lank on such movement.

CHARLES E. CUSHWA, JR. GERALD G. GREULICH.

